If they've set it up, and the energy delivery/temperature requirements have been met, but the outcome hasn't been achieved due to some other factor they haven't worked out yet, then that's just science, deal with it.

If they haven't achieved the energy delivery/temperature requirements with their equipment, then the failure is on the scientists, not in the "you just can't rush it" category.

TFA isn't entirely clear on what the point of failure is, so maybe this is a matter of congress misunderstanding science and maybe it isn't. Every scientific experiment has a layer of engineering under it and that can be pretty quantitatively judged. "We can't get the conditions right" is a statement that could go either way.

//Basically I'm objecting to the idea that science makes you magically immune to being judged. Probably because I do it for a living and I'm judged by the equivalent of supervisors and funders all the time.

This really isn't a scandal. Taxpayer-funded researchers have to justify their existence. When you're getting a government research grant, you give updates to your funding agency, and I'm not aware of any exceptions. This means saying what you've done with the money and what results you have (or haven't) seen. If you've got squat, you need to explain why you've got squat, how you plan to turn that around, and why you should get another heap of money to keep the research going.

Sorry, no matter how noble or promising the venture may be, at some point somebody has to say, "It's probably not worth dumping more money down this drain. Not at this time or with this group of scientists." Not saying that's the case here, but they shouldn't be excluded from the process just because we really want fusion reactors.

Tell congress it'll make a legendary weapon of immense capabilities that will forever shift the global balance of power and i'm sure they'll stumble over themselves to funnel more money than is needed to it

But it's at least ok to have someone spend a few hours giving a report that the money wasn't spent on hookers and blow, right? Even if the conclusion is that they have $5B worth of ways to *not* create fusion, you still kinda want to know that.

Hey, if Italy can arrest seismologists for not accurately predicting earthquakes, sure, why not, let's drag in scientists for not discovering cold fusion.

Heck, let's just terrify scientists into not pushing forward with anything. That way, the religious extremists can once again take control of humanity, casting us into a Second Dark Ages. It'll be fun.

Dead for Tax Reasons:Tell congress it'll make a legendary weapon of immense capabilities that will forever shift the global balance of power and i'm sure they'll stumble over themselves to funnel more money than is needed to it